It’s already been a busy day.
THRIVE STUDY SHOWS DECLINE OF MIDDLE CLASS OVER THE PAST DECADE
This just isn’t a Sioux Falls issue, it is happening across the nation. But as Councilor Starr pointed out during the informational meeting, instead of subsidizing food and housing for people, maybe we should start paying living wages in this town. Gee, what a concept. Employers would prefer to wage collude and pay low wages and have non-profits, the government, churches and school district bail these people out. It’s total BULLSH*T and it’s time our local government pulls their heads from their asses and realize that we need to attract businesses with integrity that want to build the middle class again in Sioux Falls.
PROPERTY TAX REDUCTIONS
I’m not going to rail on the city, because I know they are considering expanding this program to individual homeowners and smaller apartment property owners. Great idea! The council is going to have conversations about this, and I know it was one of the tenants that Brekke ran on. I have been saying for years that property tax reductions for individuals who live in lower middle class neighborhoods to do essential renovations to their homes (windows, siding, roofing, etc.) would go a lot farther than giving tax breaks to people who build glass and concrete million dollar condos downtown. But what do I know? I’m just a middle-class Marxist.
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING COOLING SYSTEM WILL END UP IN COURT, MAYBE
Tonight at the regular city council meeting, Public Works Director, Cotter was upfront about what happened. As I heard the other day, the thermal cooling system did not work. Pretty much bad engineering. And because it needs to be fixed NOW, the city has to pay for it, but there is legal discussion about who will ultimately pay for it. It is further proof that Construction Manager at Risk does not work. Basically because the public, and really the council, is left in the dark about problems. Tonight was the first time anybody heard there was a problem. Why? Because the CMAR is supposed to handle these things (behind closed doors). It looks like if we are not successful in the legal process we will be holding the bag. Not acceptable.
As many people brought up tonight, we should have never built the building. We did not need it. Thanks Bowlcut.
5G GOT APPROVED, because we had no choice
It was amazing and disgusting to watch. The city council pretty much had to allow the contract ($175 a year, per pole, per year) because the Feds said so, or they will sue. Imagine that, DC represents big business and special interests. Who knew?
EVENTS CENTER CAMPUS STUDY GROUP
The mayor announced a study group today to figure out what to do with the EC campus. Great idea. As I said yesterday, this should have been done before we built the Denty out there. Either way, I will probably NOT be asked to be on the group, so here is my two cents. Fix up the Arena, DO NOT TEAR IT DOWN. It is a fortress. Bulldoze the Canaries Stadium. If they want to continue playing in SF we have spent millions on Harmadon Park. Great place to watch a game. The taxpayers of SF don’t need to continue to subsidize Pro-Am teams in this town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfq2VSyZJ4w
HUEY BUILDING PROJECT PULLED
In some ways, this turned out to be a good thing, since it will still be a place where ADA individuals can live. It’s just too bad these people had to go thru this. That being said, I think the City Council should have approved the re-zone of surplus property. I don’t think that alley is that valuable, it’s just a bunch of developers snipping at each other, so now we are back to the beginning.
LEVITT WILL PUT ON 50 CONCERTS A YEAR . . .
Even if it rains.
Well, kind of.
I guess the Levitt will ‘Plan’ on having 50 concerts a year, but how it works, as I understand it, if there is a rain out and the concert cannot be held due to weather, it still ‘counts’. Interesting, if it is true.
There still has been little conversation about allowing bringing your own beer to events. The argument to selling only on site is a security issue. I get it. So why not have a secure area for people who bring their own beverages? This isn’t rocket science folks. Provide a secure area so people can bring their own.
maybe they can move the levitt rain-outs to the abandoned pawn shop in the heart of the sports and entertainment district.
If it’s DT, it is definitely for profit. There is zero profit margin allowing the public to drink their own beer. Picnic baskets? Not for long. Food vendors will rule that turf also.
Admin bldg. When heat demands are not met by geo thermal, it heats by all electric. Who is paying that bill?
No such thing as a “living wage”. Why should it be the responsibility of employers to pay someone a “living wage” rather than a wage that the employee is worth to the employer? The Government should not be in the business of determining pay between employer and employee.
“The Government should not be in the business of determining pay between employer and employee.”
You are exactly right, it’s called the ‘FREE MARKET’. But when you come to the taxpayers asking for property tax reductions you take ‘FREE’ out of the equation. If you want a tax cut, fine, but the caveat is you must pay a living wage. If you want to remain a part of the ‘FREE MARKET’, you can pay what you want, but sorry, you have to pay your fair share of taxes.
I feel sorry for TenHaken. He has to recover from Huether waste, eccentricities, and irresponsibility. The middle class can’t afford to subsidize the city. They barely feed their family.
My idea for the Denty: Pray for a tornado. Then the damage will require demolishion. Insurance will pay off the bonds and reset city credit rating. Flying aluminum foil siding can be misidentified as material from shot down flying saucers. Rename the city Roswell.
What is a number that translates to a Living Wage. I am not trying to be flippant but, that term is thrown around all the time. If I make $10 bucks an hour that means I have about $1100 bucks a month (after tax) to work with. I can LIVE off that if I need to by making pragmatic choices. I get roommates to split rent, I take public transport. I don’t pop out 5 kids and I try to better myself. Maybe I get a 2nd job to supplement or save up. I just dont know what that dollar amount is.
I think too often in this country we are too busy subsidizing 2 groups of people, the poor and the rich.
The rich dont’ need all the kick back and subsidies to build their empires. Look at Billionaire sports teams who get cities to support new stadiums. Horrible
The poor in general are poor for a reason, they have made bad choices and propping them up to continue to make bad choices is not right. I am not saying that people dont need help sometimes because they do but, dropping out 4 or 5 or 6 kids and letting the govt pay for all their needs is BS.
There are 3 things that can almost guarantee you will be poor. Having kids out of wedlock (you can support them), not graduating from high school, and coming from a 1 parent household. If you have those 3 things you can make it without help if you want to. I know you can only control 2 of these but, you can control the last by not having kids before your ready, its possible 🙂
The rule is you tax what you don’t want and subsidize more of what you want.
So who gets screwed, the backbone of this country, the middle class and that is 70% of this country. We need to start looking out for the middle class and make them priority #1 and the other 2 buckets need to be weened off the government tit
You are so right Erica. In SF there is no such concept as a living wage. Kelby Krabbenhoft, the president and chief executive officer of Sanford Health, received more than $2.3 million in bonuses, incentives and payouts in addition to his base salary in its fiscal year ending June 2016.
Added to his base salary of $1.4 million, Krabbenhoft’s total compensation that year was $3.9 million, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service. He also received $717,699 in deferred retirement compensation.
Why is that important Erica? Have you ever been to the Sanford hospital cafeteria? Captive audience prices. The people who work to prepare those captive audience prices? They could have kids on free and reduced school lunches because they do not make enough to make ends meet. Is that your idea of “fair†Erica?
Erica, if wasn’t for the government, unions would have never successfully organized and the minimum wage would never have became a reality; and thus, we would all be working for less.